I've covered retail and franchising a long while...so I never buy off end-caps. I've written for Entrepreneur, the Seattle Times, Seattle Business, Seattle Magazine, Alaska Airlines, Horizon Airlines, Puget Sound Business Journal, Nation's Restaurant News, Costco, and many more. In my free time, I mentor other freelance writers through my Make a Living Writing blog and my membership community, Freelance Writers Den. I live in the great Northwest with my husband, three kids, and assorted friends and pets. For a quick look at all the places I blog, see my Google+ profile: https://plus.google.com/+CarolTice

How Chick-Fil-A's Social-Media Bungle Fueled a Gay-Rights Backlash

It’s no secret that fast-food chain Chick-Fil-A donates to anti-gay Christian charities — the chain has been getting flak from gay-rights groups for a while now on that. But this week, the company flunked crisis PR 101 and spawned a social-media firestorm with its inept handling of the issue. If there was a gay person — or supporter — left in the U.S.A. with a Facebook account who didn’t know about the boycott of Chick-Fil-A, there isn’t now.

The flames were re-ignited Tuesday when company president Dan Cathy told the Baptist Press he is “guilty as charged” of donating to anti-gay charities. Then the company tried to fix the problem with an announcement on Chick-Fil-A’s Facebook page that sent the whole controversy massively viral. Here’s the exact verbiage:

“The Chick-fil-A culture and service tradition in our restaurants is to treat every person with honor, dignity and respect – regardless of their belief, race, creed, sexual orientation or gender. We will continue this tradition in the over 1,600 Restaurants run by independent Owner/Operators. Going forward, our intent is to leave the policy debate over same-sex marriage to the government and political arena.

“Chick-fil-A is a family-owned and family-led company serving the communities in which it operates. From the day Truett Cathy started the company, he began applying biblically-based principles to managing his business. For example, we believe that closing on Sundays, operating debt-free and devoting a percentage of our profits back to our communities are what make us a stronger company and Chick-fil-A family.

“Our mission is simple: to serve great food, provide genuine hospitality and have a positive influence on all who come in contact with Chick-fil-A.”

Translation: “We’d like to close our eyes now, count to ten, and you should forget all about our fervently avowed political views — which we won’t be changing — and go back to eating our chicken a lot.”

Which didn’t work.

This non-response didn’t answer the questions on many people’s minds: Will the company stop donating to groups that are actively opposing gay-marriage laws, and controversial “gay-curing” groups such as Exodus International? Also, how are gay employees treated at the company given the corporate culture?

By essentially refusing to address the issues its founder raised, Chick-Fil-A just made a lot of people madder.

Also. by issuing its statement only on its Facebook page — no official company press release was issued — Chick-Fil-A attempted to hide the controversy in a corner instead of facing it square-on. Unfortunately, the social-media corner is exactly the wrong corner for trying to hide something like this.

Now, you can check the Twitter hashtag #ChickFilGay for copycat chicken recipes so you can make the company’s sandwiches at home and avoid patronizing the chain. There’s also news of boycott parties being organized, along with an endless stream of remarks such as Emily Testerman’s @little__ghost: “farewell forever #chickfila, yer waffle fries and lil’ nugs can’t mask the bitter taste of your intolerance.”

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So its okay for the leftist scumbags in Hollywood, Democrat donors hoping for taxpayer money, and fringe groups to proudly give money to all sorts of their abhorrent charities, but as soon as one fellow comes out and proudly tells a reporter from a religious publication that he supports a charity in league with his beliefs, then its open season. The fellow likes traditional marriage and supports it, therefore he must hate everyone else. He must hate gays and Lesbians, polygamists, cohabiters not married, and so on.

This is going to reveal the militant, intolerant, socialist, and homosexual crowd for what they truly are. No wonder so many dictators rise from the left. They cannot bear to hear opinions clashing with their ‘superior’ doctrines.

The next time a homosexual asks you to support him in his quest for equal rights, tell him to get lost.

I don’t see anything wrong with Chic-Fil-A’s statement. It is perfectly reasonable that a company can have lifestyle disagreements with it’s customers and still show them respect and serve them a good meal. To give an example, I know Hollywood has an agenda to actively undermine many of the beliefs and lifestyle choices I hold dear, but that doesn’t mean that I’m going to boycott all Hollywood movies. Can we no longer agree to disagree in this country? Must we force the owners of Chic-Fil-A to share our personal beliefs before we’re willing to buy a meal from them?

Lisa, you sound like a fairly intelligent being, and likely even a good businesswoman; smart business people stay away from politics and religion and while it is sometimes good to discuss one’s religious convictions, it most often is not. For millienia, Bible literalists have attempted to keep women at home, pregnant, preparing her husband’s meals, etc. and fought to keep them from voting, etc. The Bible was used to justify slavery and now to deny people their right to civically choose to create a longterm family and the financial and legal contracts that are associated w/that union. Forgive those that you perceive to be whining, but it is always good to walk a day in someone else’s shoes to better understand what the reality of their situation is. Sure, we can all agree to disagree, but it is beyind ridiculous when people try to wade into my personal business and deny me the portions of our Constitution that related to “All Men are Created Equal” and the right to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. My 21yr. monogamous relationship should not be demonized by people cherry-picking the Old Testament, and that includes Dan Cathy, CEO of my favorite restaurant. I have followed him and his Dad Truett for decades and have eaten at their original store in Hapeville, GA dozens of times…this whole scenario is very unfortunate.

I thank you for the reasonable tone of your response. This obviously must be a very emotional issue for you. All religious arguments aside, I very much agree with you that government should treat citizens equally regardless of race, gender, or lifestyle choices. Gay couples should definitely have the same legal rights as any heterosexual couple. But this issue has become very confused because the government has already overstepped by getting involved in the moral issue of marriage to begin with. Marriage, as a moral issue, should not be decided at a government level, and it steps one group’s rights to define morality by defining marriage as heterosexual only, but steps on another group’s rights by expanding the definition of marriage. I’m not sure why no one else is talking about this, but why is the government involved in the business of marriage at all? Can we not have the same legal treatment for any couple by instituting legal unions for all who wish to combine their property rights, and make a lifetime commitment to each other? Then, the question of what is, or is not marriage could be left to individual and couples to decide for themselves. But as far as Chick-Fil-A is concerned, the company’s president simply expressed an opinion in response to a question about his beliefs. From your response, it seems safe to say you disagree with his opinion, but he’s still entitled to have his opinion. This does not infringe on anyone’s rights. As far as what laws the company chooses to support, or oppose, personally I don’t think the politicians have given us very good options.

So its okay for the leftist scumbags in Hollywood, Democrat donors hoping for taxpayer money, and fringe groups to proudly give money to all sorts of their abhorrent charities, but as soon as one fellow comes out and proudly tells a reporter from a religious publication that he supports a charity in league with his beliefs, then its open season. The fellow likes traditional marriage and supports it, therefore he must hate everyone else. He must hate gays and Lesbians, polygamists, cohabiters not married, and so on.

This is going to reveal the militant, intolerant, socialist, and homosexual crowd for what they truly are. No wonder so many dictators rise from the left. They cannot bear to hear opinions clashing with their ‘superior’ doctrines.

The next time a fag asks you to support him in his quest for equal rights, tell him to f’off.

economart, I was hoping that we could keep the tone civil in this discussion. Resorting to calling people ‘fag’ only causes people to get angry and ignore whatever else you are saying. You seem to be trying to make the point that a Biblical view of marriage does not make a person hateful, and yet you are using hateful language which is completely inconsistent.

I have gay friends. They call each other “fag” or “faggot” all the time. When they stop, maybe other people will. Same with another squealing victim group….

Gay rights activists and their dopey supporters on the Left have pushed a bit too far by trying to wreck this private business. The cries of : Hater! Are not only ridiculous, but very childlike. Call us “haters” and “racist” all you want….pathetic.

Gay Rights??? What about INDIVIDUAL Rights? If less than 3 percent of the population is going to boycott this company because they announced their Constitutional Right to choose NOT to be pro gay marriage then let them. There are plenty of people who will find the company’s announcement a refreshing breath of fresh air and go there BECAUSE of that announcement.